Hoops letters of intent rolling in

It's Christmas Day in the college basketball world (or Hanukkah...or Diwali...or Kwanzaa...or whatever religious celebration you choose to follow):

Illinois assistant coach Jerrance Howard (coachjhoward) has Tweeted that the Illini have received their trio of long-anticipated letters of intent.

SF Jereme Richmond (Waukegan), C Meyers Leonard (Robinson) and SG Crandall Head (Rich South) give Illinois its best class since McDonald's All-Americans Bruce Douglas and Efrem Winters led a massive group that arrived on campus in 1982. The Illini will finish on everyone's Top 10 list that cares more about quality than quantity.

There's just one catch with this impressive class: The Illini have 14 scholarship players on target to play in 2010-11. That's one too many. I'm sure it will sort itself out...as these situations always seem to do.

---Northern Illinois announced its lone recruit in 6-foot-6, 245-pound power forward Nate Rucker. He's a senior at Memphis' Melrose High School as the Huskies continue to mine the Tennessee roots of head coach Ricardo Patton and assistant Will Smith. It didn't hurt that Rucker's sister, Candace, played at Colorado while Patton and Smith were still there.

"I like to play inside with my back to the basket, usually within 8 feet or so," Rucker said in NIU's official release. "One of my goals this season is to improve both my step-back game and my ballhandling."

--DePaul expects to sign three players: PG Brandon Young, SG Moses Morgan and SF Walter Pitchford. Young and Morgan, in particular, are highly regarded by national recruiting analysts.

--Northwestern has just one planned signee: SG Jershon Cobb from Georgia.

LW